Taiwan foreign e-services VAT 2017

Taiwan is to become the latest country to impose VAT on foreign providers of electronic services to its consumers. The implementation date is likely to be January 2017.

The move follows the European Union, and local neighbors including Japan and South Korea.

Non-resident sellers of streaming or downloadable video, music, gaming, e-books, taxi booking, gambling, software etc. currently are exempted from charging 5% Taiwanese VAT. This loophole has meant companies such as Skype, Uber, booking.comAmazon Kindle, Apple iTunes and Google Play have a competitive advantage over local providers.

It is likely that such foreign providers will have to VAT register with the tax authorities, and appoint a fiscal representative from 2017.

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Richard Asquith is VP Global Indirect Tax at Avalara, helping businesses understand their compliance obligations as they grow globally. He is part of the European leadership team which this year won International Tax Review's Tax Technology Firm of the Year. Richard qualified as an accountant with KPMG in the UK, and went on to work in Hungary, Russia and France with EY.